How the Obama-Rouhani Call Came About

ByJay Solomon

AP

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani smiles at the end of a news conference at the Millennium Hotel in midtown Manhattan on Friday.

For a moment it looked like the much-discussed rapprochement between the U.S. and Iran wouldn’t happen after Iranian President Hasan Rouhani ducked U.S. President Barack Obama during a United Nations meeting this week.

Then on Friday morning the Iranian delegation, still in New York, communicated to the White House Mr. Rouhani’s desire to talk with Mr. Obama before leaving for Iran in the evening, according to a senior administration official.

The official said the Iranians appeared to be encouraged about a discussion between the two leaders following a 30-minute meeting Thursday night between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

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All week, the U.S. administration had stressed to the Iranian delegation that Mr. Obama was open to a direct communication with Mr. Rouhani.

“All accounts were that that meeting went quite well” between Messrs. Kerry and Zarif on Thursday. “There were positive developments.”

The official said the discussion between Messrs. Obama and Rouhani started around 2:30 Friday afternoon and lasted about 15 minutes. The primary focus of their talk was on the nuclear question–specifically whether Iran would rein in what Western powers call a military nuclear program, something Tehran denies.

Mr. Obama closed the phone call by expressing thanks and best wishes to Mr. Rouhani in Farsi, the Persian language, and the Iranian president reciprocated in English.

“Both leaders did express a need to move forward with a sense of urgency,” on the nuclear issue, said the administration official, who briefed reporters on the meeting late Friday. “We don’t believe it can be achieved in one meeting. But we do believe it can be achieved.”

The official said the White House notified Israel and some Arab allies about the conversation on Friday, as well as leading members of Congress.

“The Israeli government has every right to be skeptical of the Iranian government, given the past,” the administration official said. “We’re trying to achieve an objective that we think will advance the interests of the United States, Israel and the world.”

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